1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a walking assist device which assists walking of the user by relieving the load acting on the user's legs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as this type of walking assist device, there has been known a walking assist device configured from a load transmit portion, a foot attachment portion to be attached to a foot of a user, and a leg link provided between the load transmit portion and the foot attachment portion, wherein the walking assist device assists walking of the user by relieving the load acting on the legs of the user, by receiving at least a part of the weight of the user by the leg link via the load transmit portion (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2007-20909).
In the above-mentioned conventional art, the foot attachment portion is equipped with a shoe, and a stirrup-type connecting member into which the toe portion of the user may be freely inserted, which is assembled to the shoe. Then, the connecting member is connected to the lower end of the leg link at a position forward of the ankle of the user, so as to have at least a degree of rotational freedom around an axis line in a horizontal direction seen from front. By doing so, the foot attachment portion may move with respect to the leg link and following the movement of the ankle of the user, so that degree of freedom of the movement of the ankle is secured.
However, when the connecting member is connected to the leg link so as to have such a degree of rotational freedom, the direction of action of the load transmitted from the leg link to the connecting member inclines back and forth during walking with respect to the connecting member. With this, a rotational moment in the anteroposterior direction acts on the connecting member, and the connecting member wobbles back and forth. By the wobbling of the connecting member, the portion of the shoe coming into contact with the connecting member becomes worn out by being rubbed therewith, so that it becomes difficult to secure durability of the foot attachment portion.